1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to guitar/MIDI type systems and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, it relates to improved guitar synthesis systems having greater versatility and feel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a great amount of recent prior art that relates to the playing of various musical instruments through a MIDI-musical instrument digital interface system wherein an instrument signal is derived, digitized and sound synthesized to produce an audio output. Various forms of effects may be mixed with the final output sound. There have been various types of guitar controllers developed in recent years; however, there are two basic types of guitar controllers that find wide commercial application. A first type is that which determines the pitch from the waveform of the guitar output. The second is a type which utilizes some other parameter to represent the pitch, i.e., usually the length of the string.
The first category usually makes use of a special pickup which is mounted on a normal guitar, as is the case in the present invention. It is deemed important to retain the "guitarness" or "feel" of the instrument and a retrofittable hexaphonic magnetic pickup is utilized with such a pitch detection system. A second category almost always requires that the instrument is a somewhat altered guitar The guitar may have all strings of one gauge, or the neck may be wired so that there are electrical contacts on each fret, etc. Still other types of guitar source utilize sensors connected to the individual strings or other obstructions that compromise the visceral nature of playing the guitar.